The Christmas market at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin

Recently, I was in Berlin on a pre-Christmas trip to explore Christmas markets and get into the festive spirit. I visited plenty of markets, but once the weekend there came to its end, I had a clear favourite.

The market around the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, or in German (Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche) is located in Charlottenburg in the western part of Berlin. It is easy to access by metro via the Berlin Zoo subway station, totally free to visit and absolutely stunning.

This market is also the location of a fatal terror incident in Berlin that happened in December 2016, on the very same day that my parents and brother had been at the market. The victims of the incident now have a memorial at the site of the incident. Don’t let this scare you out of visiting though, there are plenty of safety measures that are taken now, and it’s nearly impossible for something similar to happen again there.

There are plenty of dining, snacking and drinking options at the market, and some of the venues even have small cottages that you can sit in, and there are eheated areas as well. I really appreciate this as Berlin was quite cold.

So, what do I like about this market other than the fact that it was stunning?

Well, unlike many markets, this is not just market stands on a square. The market is organized so that it wraps around the church, which means that the pattern of it is a bit irregular. It is also just big enough to have a great variety of items to sell, which makes you want to stay there for quite a bit, but it’s still not so big and crowded that you get stressed out. It is spacious, even between the stands, and it feels genuine and not as commercial as larger Christmas markets may feel. It is cozy and beautiful and therefore, by far the best market I visited in Berlin.

What are the best Christmas markets that you’ve been to? Please let me know in the comments!